Talk to me, Tuesday

November 8, 2011

The trend of my food not photographing well continues! HOWEVER, a similar trend of the aforementioned tasting delicious is also continuing. Win. What you see above is Brandon’s suggestion for the weekly menu while flipping through my latest installment of “Clean Eating Magazine”. A Roasted Portobello & Goat Cheese Sandwich. For serious? Yes please. He even asked for a salad on the side. Which I forgot about until 2 minutes before serving and threw together. Which also turned out delicious.

Roasted Portobello & Goat Cheese Sandwiches, serves 4

1 lb portobello mushrooms

1 1/2 tsp olive oil (i used Canola oil)

1/2 cup chevre

1/2 shallot, finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper and sea salt

hamburger rolls of choice

arugula (or salad mix of choice).

This recipe is easy peasy. Toss the mushrooms with the oil, lay them out on a baking sheet and roast at 375 for about 20 minutes, but don’t forget to turn them halfway through. I was AMAZED at how brown and delicious these puppies got. While the ‘shrooms are roasting, mix together the cheese, herbs, salt/pepper and lemon juice. Layer the mushrooms, arugula and cheese on the buns and NOMNOMNOM. The recipe actually calls for broiling the buns quickly, but given my general fear of setting off the smoke detector, I opted out of this one.

I’ll be honest guys, I don’t really measure much when it comes to some recipes. This one was one of them. In the end, I probably had a little too much goat cheese and not enough of the flavors in the cheese. There was just a hint of them to tease. Next time I make these I’ll definitely try to make a more even mixture, and DEFINITELY more mushrooms! But all in all. These were super tasty. Something that would be an easy lite dinner or lunch to make for friends or just as an easy meal for a weeknight. I served it with a salad of mixed greens, sunflower seeds, craisins, threw on some of the goat cheese mix and some lemon poppy seed dressing. Its a salad that’s hard to go wrong with and the lemon poppy seed I think really complimented the richness of the goat cheese spread on the sandwiches and tied in the lemon juice pretty well. It would probably be really tasty with a slice of tomato and mozzarella instead of the goat cheese during the summer. Any thoughts on how else to change it up?

I had a great workout this morning, even though I did NOT want to get out of bed. I worked on upping my mile pace for my upcoming 5k (2.5 weeks!? Holy cow- Who else is doing a Turkey trot this year???). I have my personal goal set for the time, but its always fun to push a little harder. I did 4 miles this morning and using 6 mph as my warm up/recovery pace, I alternated between 4-5 minutes at 6 mph and 3-4 minutes at 7 mph. I’m trying to decide which is better, longer strides or short fast strides. Anyone have any thoughts? Either way, I spent a lot of the run reminding myself that half of the hurdle is mental. Running for 40 minutes is HARD and not just physically, mentally its really easy to get into the mind set of “this is so long, I can’t do this” or you get bored (so easy on a treadmill). Its so easy to psyche yourself out and I love the added practice of mental discipline to a physical workout. The things I’m learning will never cease to amaze me.

Welp – I’m off to make some lists and plan out my day tomorrow. One thing I’ve come to realize is that self-improvement doesn’t just happen. It takes work, a lot of hard work and practice. And failing. And taking those failures and learning from them.

I’ll leave you with things that i’m thankful for today:

I am grateful for: The ability to recognize areas within myself that need improving before being told about them.

I am grateful for: Friends that I can turn to and rely on to give honest, tough love, advice.

I am grateful for: the ability to take the advice, the suggestions, the “not so subtle, subtle hints”, as constructive conversations, whereas a year ago, I would’ve taken it as a direct attack.